VCFA

Dystropian Awesomeness!

I want to thank all my fellow Dystropians for submitting their awesome blog posts this month! Each post shared great insight, sparked fun conversations, and contributed to the general awesomeness of the kidlit writing community! To all my readers, please spend some time with this group’s brilliant blogs, witty twitter sites, and buy their books when they come out!…

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Crafting Teen Characters with Respect and Authenticity: Part 2

Making Peace with the Adolescent Pre-Frontal Cortex: Crafting Teen Characters with Respect and Authenticity Part 2: Teen Traits (5 through 8) By Jessica Denhart In part one of this article I talked about the teenage brain and the common teen traits of spotty memory, poor impulse control, the desire to do new things, and spending less time…

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Crafting Teen Characters with Respect and Authenticity: Part 1

(Ingrid’s Note: Yup, it’s April. But I’ve still got three fabulous Dystropian posts to bring you. So it’s now April Dystropian Madness! ) Making Peace with the Adolescent Pre-Frontal Cortex: Crafting Teen Characters with Respect and Authenticity Part 1: Teen Traits (1 through 4) By Jessica Denhart As writers of young adult literature, many of us…

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Three Act Structure: A Pair of Spanx for Your Novel

By Sheryl Scarborough If the writer’s closet of useful tools could be likened to Carrie Bradshaw’s fabu walk-in,  masterful accessories such as simile and metaphor would equate to exquisite Louboutin’s and Jimmy Choo’s footwear… exotic word choices would sparkle like Tiffany’s finest… and you would most likely find three-act structure in the drawer labeled: Spanx!…

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Creating Emotion Within Dialogue

By Jeff Schill I love dialogue. To me, a story is all about the characters.  And I especially enjoy when these characters interact with one other.  But at the same time, dialogue can fall flat when it does not resonate or make the reader feel something. Dialogue is much more than just the words on…

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Engaging the Heart: Poetic Tools for Writing Emotion (Part 2)

by Jen Bailey In Part 1, we looked at how onomatopoeia and phonetic intensives can help you evoke emotion in your readers when writing emotionally detached characters. Today we will look at two additional sound-related poetic tools that can be carefully crafted to obtain your desired effect and keep your reader engaged. Poetic Tool #3:…

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Boys and Literacy: Reverse-Engineering the Writing Process

I’m excited to kick-off the March Dystropian Madness Craft Series! This month we will enjoy the insight of eight guest authors, each of whom will share an overview of their Vermont College of Fine Arts graduate lecture. Topics range from literary theory, to poetic techniques, creating effective dialog, and finding the perfect boyfriend (well… finding…

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March Dystropian Madness!

I’m happy to announce the premier of a fabulous new blog series: MARCH DYSTROPIAN MADNESS! During the month of March, Ingrid’s Notes, will be filled with brilliant insight, craft techniques, and the deep thinking of eight Dystropian guest authors. The Dystropians are my fellow writers-in-crime and classmates from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. As part of…

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